Regional Clubs

The NU Club of Philadelphia received the Northwestern Alumni Association's 2007 Club of the Year Award during the NAA Leadership Symposium Sept. 6-7 on the Evanston campus. More than 190 alumni attended the event. The Philadelphia club won the top prize for strong governance, an increase in membership and a very successful turnout for the club's "A Weekend with Royalty," an event last March that included a private tour of Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit at the Franklin Institute Science Museum and a lecture by Northwestern history professor Carl Petry, as well as attendance of a performance of the Tony Kushner musical Caroline, or Change at the Arden Theatre.

In addition to the awards presentation, attendees heard from keynote speakers Cheryle Robinson Jackson (WCAS88), president of the Chicago Urban League (see "Forming a New League," fall 2007), and Northwestern professor Bill White (McC60). This marked the first year the NAA's Leadership Symposium was held in conjunction with the Kellogg School of Management's Club Leaders Summit.

The NU Club of Chicago held a community service event Nov. 7 at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, where club members prepared and packaged food for Chicago families in need. Other events on the fall calendar included a night at Second City for Between Barack and a Hard Place! and an NAA Chicago Theatre Event to see The Crucible at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Club members also toured the Goose Island Brewery Oct. 4 and met at Goose Island's Wrigleyville Brew Pub afterward for a taste of the local beer.

Members of the NU Club of Washington, D.C., attended the Northwestern Alumni Association's "A Night with Northwestern in D.C." panel discussion, "Force and Foreign Policy: The Future of U.S. Diplomacy Post-Iraq" Nov. 7 at the National Press Club. Medill School of Journalism Dean John Lavine moderated the event, while New York Times Washington, D.C., correspondent Elisabeth Bumiller (J77) (see "On the Bush Beat," summer 2005), National Public Radio reporter Vicky O'Hara (J74, GJ75) and Voice of America Pentagon correspondent Al Pessin (J76) served as panelists.

Following a performance of The Crucible at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, director and School of Communication faculty member Anna Shapiro, right, and actors Lucy Carapetyan (C06), center, and Kelly O'Sullivan (C06) discuss the production as part of an NAA Chicago Theatre event in September.Photo by Jerry Lai (WCAS04)